It wasn’t too long ago that Disney+ pulled a ton of “underperforming” titles off the platform. It was a long list including the series revival of Willow that had only premiered five months earlier some higher profile sports shows like the John Stamos-led Big Shot, and a continuation of the Mighty Ducks film series, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changer. I imagine the decision wasn’t based entirely on merit since some of the titles pulled were critically well-received, but rather the question of residuals and streaming numbers. Still, if you enjoyed those titles, watching them in the age of streaming isn’t an option anymore. And that is another whole argument regarding physical media.
Now comes word that American Born Chinese, a series based on a graphic novel of the same name by Gene Luen Yang has been canceled after one season. The shared announcement by Variety said that the producers plan to shop the series to other outlets, but whether that works remains to be seen. The cast included some huge names like recent Academy Award winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, but that wasn’t enough of a draw for audiences. Disney hasn’t made any announcement of its removal from Disney+, but given the trend of other big-ticket shows that were removed, I have to imagine it won’t be on the service come this time next year.
You’d think with all the glut of Marvel and Star Wars titles on Disney+, audiences would be hungry for something different—I’m just not inclined to believe that Disney will be taking many more chances. Even Marvel shows aren’t a shoo-in for success. While appearing on streamer NerdIncorrect’s Twitch gameshow Codenames Live, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law star Tatiana Maslany said that fans shouldn’t hope for a second season. “I don’t think so, Maslany said. I think we blew our budget, and Disney was like, ‘No thanks!’” That Marvel show went way over budget and didn’t pull in the audience Disney expected. Whether that ultimately led to scaling back the amount of Marvel shows being made on Disney+ remains to be seen, but that was a big misfire.
Disney+ has a problem. Certainly, they’re the home for Marvel and Star Wars, but that isn’t enough. And many of their other titles don’t get the promotional push or attention needed to thrive on the platform. Disney, you can’t keep us placated with 10 new episodes of Bluey, we need a little more.
I can’t write this article in good faith without mentioning the recent Disney+ premiere of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This is a known IP that has a massive following so I’m not surprised it managed to thrive on Disney+, but this is a unique circumstance. It is one of the best-selling series of all time with more than 180 million books in print globally. Even if you manage to get 5% of that audience to tune in to the show, you’re gold (According to Variety, the viewership numbers of the first six days were around 13.3 million or a little more than 8%). Those viewership totals were enough to put it in the top five most-watched season premiers of 2023.
New Disney Titles Do VOD First
Keeping up with the Disney+ news, it wasn’t too long ago that subscribers could immediately watch theatrical releases when they made their way to digital. That was a great way to bump up subscriptions, but Disney was losing out on a revenue stream. That’s why The Marvels (Jan 18th) and Wish (Jan 23rd) are releasing only at digital retailers before heading to Disney+. That means Disney can get $20 from you now if you can’t wait for it to eventually appear on their streaming service.
Similarly, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was available digitally on August 29th 2023, but it took until December 1st to be available on Disney+.
It’s a tough game to play as audiences were accustomed to waiting for those releases to come to Disney+ and I believe they’ll continue to wait. If you’re already paying for Disney+, that makes the most sense.